Word Sorts (Beers)

"I find that word sorts are an effective strategy for helping students discover a particular spelling pattern" (Beers, 2003,  p. 251). Word sorts are helpful because students first analyze the individual words to find similarities and group them together, then analyze the different groupings of words and analyze their differences further. Although this may seem like a solely elementary task, it can be used in upper grades, as well. But how?

Because I have been working with three students with reading difficulties recently, I have used word sorts with them. They each have their own needs and are in different spelling stages, but regardless of their ages, I am using sorts. The pacing and delivery of these sorts are much different than what they would receive in the classroom because their age and maturing levels far exceed their current academic levels. I follow Words Their Way (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, Johnston, 2012, 5th edition) Scope and Sequence for their respective levels. (I know this is the second time I have mentioned this text, but it is worth reading!) Many of the activities are geared toward younger students, even at higher levels, but it is fairly simple to adjust them to fit the maturity level and age of your student, even if it is just changing the theme. For example, one of these students loves the subway. It was the only way I could motivate him. Therefore, I changed all the activities and game themes to deal with the subway.

An interesting thing about word sorts is that even though some students may know the correct way to pronounce certain words relatively accurately, they do not know how to apply those patterns to other words. They don't even know spelling patterns exist! This is similar to struggling readers not knowing that reading strategies exist. Therefore, explicit and purposeful instruction must be apparent in classrooms and reading interventions. I always like to point out to my students how well they have done finding the patten and then explaining the "rule."